The Hunt for the Golden Mole

August 25, 2014
Girling, an environmental journalist, explores the antecedents to both the current crisis of species extinction and the modern conservation movement. He crosses boundaries impressively, discussing the philosophical underpinnings of ecological preservation, the historical and sociopolitical environment in which early naturalists and big game hunters commingled, the biological basis for determining the nature of speciation, and the basic principles of systematics used to define evolutionary relationships among groups of organisms. Girling’s accessible presentation never oversimplifies complex issues, and the book also includes fascinating descriptions of his trips to Kenya and Mozambique to explore successful ways humans and wildlife have found ways to coexist. He is not shy about pointing out the huge problems associated with poaching, problems arising from the efforts of organized crime and terrorist networks, as well as the occasional closed-mindedness of environmental groups unwilling to think beyond doctrinaire positions. The book’s only downside is Girling’s description of his search for bones of the Somali golden mole, bones that were found only once in an owl pellet in 1964. The search, as a metaphor, is powerful, but the reality of the search is far less exciting. Nonetheless, Girling has produced a provocative and thoughtful text.

October 1, 2014
When award-winning British environmental journalist Girling (Greed, 2009, etc.) read an entry in Mammal Species of the World that described "an entire species 'known only from a partially completed specimen in an owl-pellet, ' " he decided that the discovery of this improbable species, the Somali golden mole, would make a good story. He was right.Rightfully concerned about predictions that "[a] fifth of all the world's vertebrates...were facing extinction," the author examined a list of endangered species. He was surprised to learn about a species he had never before heard of, which was first discovered in 1964 by a professor at the University of Florence who made the discovery while on a trip to Somalia, discovering the fragmentary remains of the mole in a disused oven inhabited by owls. Efforts to find indications of other members of the species failed. Girling explains his surprise that this singular, incomplete specimen of a lowly mole deserved a place on an endangered-species list along with the rhinoceros, whose fate is threatened by the illegal trade in horns. He ponders the broader issues of conservation-e.g., whether saving some species should be prioritized and the desire to strike a balance between the needs of impoverished African villagers and preserving the wilderness. "For far too long," he writes, "the natural and human worlds have been perceived as warring entities whose interests are irreconcilable." Is it reasonable to worry about the fate of an obscure mole? In the course of writing the book, Girling uncovered a more important truth: It is not the endangerment of particular species that is important, but the whole, "complex webs of inter-dependent relationship that we call ecosystems." Ultimately, "[i]n its very obscurity the mole stands as a symbol for the whole unsung, unheard-of majority of mammalian life." Deep issues concerning our place in nature addressed with grace and enthusiasm.

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Starred review from October 1, 2014
The Somali golden mole is a real animal. At least Girling thinks it is. No one has seen it for decades, and what evidence there is of its existence is little, indeeda fragment of an owl pellet, and even that remnant seems to have gone missing. On flimsier stuff have epic quests been launched, however. Down the rabbit hole he goes, and it's a journey that takes the reader back to the Age of Discovery, when big-game hunters shot anything and everything in the name of scientific exploration and ego, and ahead to the present, when mercenary poachers mutilate rhinos for the sake of their allegedly aphrodisiacal horns. As a record number of species career towards extinction, humanity's role in starting and stopping the madness caused by avarice and arrogance is damning. Yet amid the horrific carnage and preventable disappearances, Girling finds a smidgen of hope in the discoveries of new species and the reintroduction of those thought lost . . . oh, and the Somali golden mole, too. Though Girling presents a sobering assessment of the state of the world's fauna, he does so with the dramatic flair of a novelist and eye for detail of a travel journalist. The result is a page-turning, thought-provoking treatise on a desperate environmental crisis.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)